Tshidi Monkoe, Author of Bestselling Book, Prison Love, On How She Attained Success As A Self-published Author
For author Tshidi Monkoe, success as a self-published author needs one to always be proactive, to be prepared to shift paradigms, to challenge and not limit oneself.
“As a self-published author, nothing is handed to you on a silver platter,” she says. “One has to go the extra mile to put their book out there.”
Having published Prison Love in 2021, the book has sold well over 1000 copies. The book tells Tshidi’s story about how she fell in love with a man who was incarcerated. In the four years of their relationship while he was incarcerated, they were the IT couple of the prison; he was sweet, caring, thoughtful and treated her like a queen. When he was released, she discovered a different side of the man who had become her pillar of strength and her reason to try the love thing again.
She told PUBLISH’D AFRIKA: “There are many of people out there who are prisoners of love, or who are in some kind of prison in their relationships, or whose situations relate to my story. Hence I wanted to ensure that the book reaches as many people as possible. I’m glad I didn’t succumb to limiting beliefs, such as ‘book stores will rip you off’. I’d rather have a small slice of a big cake, instead of a big slice of a small cake.”
Another limiting she encountered when she began marketing her book was that ‘You will need to go through a distributor’ and ‘you are better off selling directly’.
“I told myself that my distributor is in heaven, and that I wasn’t better off selling directly,” she says. “There are readers who will never contact me directly to buy my book. I’ll be selling to people in my social media circle and those who hear me on radio. Why would I want to limit myself? What about readers who don’t follow me on social media, or those who don’t listen to the radio? What about prominent people who don’t have the time to call me and wait for the book to be couriered by Paxi? Don’t they deserve to read my book? What about opportunities that could come with my book being on the shelves of book stores? These questions propelled me to kick the doors of Exclusive Books stores.”
Tshidi says big manufacturing companies and well known brands such as Unilever, Coca-Coca, Tiger Brands, Issey Miyake, Tom Ford, Visage, Nike and other need retailers to sell their products. So, why would she convince herself that she doesn’t need a retailer to sell her book?
“Bookstores will return your books if readers don’t buy; yes that’s a fact,” she says. “Exclusive Books has a buy-back clause. If your book collects dust on their shelves, they return it and you reimburse what they’ve paid you. I didn’t allow this to discourage me because I can control this by showing up at their doorstep to promote my book and also continue marketing it on social media and other platforms.”
Tshidi chose to continue being proactive, to continue shifting the paradigm, to continue challenging herself. She chose to go to the bus depots, instead of waiting at the bus stop.
“We create our own experiences. My story didn’t begin when I was born; it began when the word was spoken. I don’t know my own story. I don’t know who I am and where I am headed. So, why should I limit myself?”
She has now supplied 25 Exclusive Books branches including all the three airports and Exclusive Books Botswana. She has also supplied Lifestyle Books including their branches in Lesotho and Zimbabwe. It has been a journey on a road filled with potholes yet exhilarating.
“I have been visiting different branches every month to promote my book,” she says. “I travel to different provinces and across border. My “WHY” gives me the drive that I need. I give myself a target each time I visit a store. For me it’s not only about creating awareness, it’s also about closing the deal. The sales person in me is always pushing beyond boundaries.”
Prison Love is Tshidi’s only source of income. It has turned her into an entrepreneur. She sold over 850 copies of the book in a space of 14 months. Prison Love was also recommended and selected by the Gauteng Department of Education to be used in schools. She has also supplied the Department of Arts and Culture in the North West and the City of Tshwane Municipality for their libraries.
“I’ve learned that whatever it is that I want and desire, I need to give to myself and that is what I have been doing,” she says. “I wouldn’t have been able to do all this if I hadn’t allowed myself to heal and forgive. Forgiveness is rewarding and fulfilling. How can I forget the lives I have touched through my book? I believe I am the light people have been longing for in their lives. God is using me to heal the broken-hearted and bandage their wounds.”
Second Book, “Mme Ntate O Kae?”
Prison Love has not been Tshidi’s only focus. She recently qualified as a Life Coach, NLP Coach and NLP Practitioner. She is also in the process of launching her speaking career. Her second book, “Mme Ntate O Kae?”, “Mama Ubaba Ukuphi?” will be released soon.
She told PUBLISH’D AFRIKA what the book is about: “We often disregard the pain our children go through when we get divorced or when the father passes on, we don’t know how to deal with our own pain. How do we then attend to what our children are going through? Children are left to navigate their own way through pain which doesn’t yield good results.”
Tshidi said men are also expected to be the best fathers when some of them were not raised by their fathers. Who do we blame? Being an absent father, she said, is a choice one makes, regardless of your upbringing.
“Failing to provide for your child is lack of self-love,” she said. “Denying a father access to his child does more damage than good. Let’s attend to our children’s pain and heal our own childhood wounds. Let’s make co-parenting a priority. Let’s make a difference, one child at a time.”
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